Isola della Certosa - VeniceBioGroundsFor a new environmental awareness
Isola della Certosa – Venice

Monday closed
Tuesday to Sunday 11 am – 7 pm
the ticket office is open until 1 hour before the Museum closing
the only open ticket, valid for one entry to the Museum and all current exhibitions until 2121
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for young people aged between 14 and 25 (not yet turned 25); for groups of 15 people or more; registered journalists with a valid ID card; La Galleria Nazionale, Museo Ebraico di Roma, Villa Medici: Accademia di Francia a Roma ticket holders; upon presentation of ID card or badge: Accademia Costume & Moda, Accademia Fotografica, Automobile Club d’Italia (ACI), Biblioteche di Roma, Casa Internazionale delle Donne, Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, Enel (for badge holder and accompanying person), FAI – Fondo Ambiente Italiano, IED – Istituto Europeo di Design, IN/ARCH – Istituto Nazionale di Architettura, Interclub Welfare Card, ISFCI – Istituto Superiore di Fotografia, Sapienza Università di Roma, LAZIOcrea, Officine Fotografiche, Ordine degli Assistenti Sociali, Ordine dei Medici Chirurghi e degli Odontoiatri, Ordine Psicologi Lazio, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Amici di Palazzo Strozzi, Poste Italiane, Rinascente, Romaeuropa Festival, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Scuola Internazionale di Comics, Teatro Olimpico, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Teatro di Roma, UIL – Unione Italiana del Lavoro, Università degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata, Youthcard
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upon presentation of the membership Card or Carta EFFE
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valid on Wednesdays from 2 pm for high school and university students, Italian and from the European Union – upon presentation of the personal card/booklet
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for all members of families consisting of two adults and at least one child (free for children under 14)
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minors under 14 years of age; disabled people requiring companion; EU Disability Card holders and accompanying person; MiC employees; European Union tour guides and tour guides, licensed (ref. Circular n.20/2016 DG-Museums); 1 teacher for every 10 students; ICOM members; AMACI members; accredited journalists; myMAXXI membership cardholders; European Union students and university researchers in Art and Architecture, public fine arts academies (AFAM registered) students and Temple University Rome Campus students from Tuesday to Friday (excluding holidays); IED – Istituto Europeo di Design professors, NABA – Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti professors, RUFA – Rome University of Fine Arts professors; upon presentation of ID card or badge – valid for two: Collezione Peggy Guggenheim a Venezia, Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Sotheby’s Preferred, MEP – Maison Européenne de la Photographie; on your birthday presenting an identity document; Tuesday to Thursday for admission to Gallery 1 hosting the exhibition FUORI TUTTO (from 28 June)
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valid for access to the individual exhibition
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for groups of 12 people in the same tour; myMAXXI membership card-holders; registered journalists with valid ID
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under 14 years of age
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disabled people + possible accompanying person; minors under 3 years of age (ticket not required)
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MAXXI’s Collection of Art and Architecture represents the founding element of the museum and defines its identity. Since October 2015, it has been on display with different arrangements of works.
Isola della Certosa – Venice
Monday closed
Tuesday to Sunday 11 am – 7 pm
the ticket office is open until 1 hour before the Museum closing
The terracotta pot is the first “home” created by man for a plant: this is were it germinates in the nursery and how it is transported to be planted. The pot, moreover, is one of the first artifacts of human history, present in all cultures of the world, a true archetype of human dwelling. Its circular shape recalls the cyclicity of nature itself, from the motion of the planets to animal conglomerations. In this project, a multitude of terracotta pots return to nature, going back to being vessels for plants and animals that will colonize them over time, spontaneously. Placing the pot back into nature, it returns to being a gestational womb, refuge, protection. The project develops on an amphibious area – woodland and lagoon – and is composed of stoneware pots and elements on which phrases are engraved, which for humans are readable as information referring to the environment, while for animals they will function as openings to transform the pots themselves into burrows.
Trees are living organisms and not a mere supply of wood. A forest is not a crop, not comparable with intensive farming whose purpose is the exploitation of natural resources by man. It is a vital whole. To make this evident, the authors have chosen to literally give voice to a tree, through what they call a “Disney-like” operation, that is, translating the presence of this life into words. Instructions for use: Some metal devices have been placed directly on the trunk, branches and base of the tree and can hold a smartphone. Visitors can download, through a QRcode, a file that contains a voice, that of the tree telling about its condition. The devices’ function is that of amplifying the sound of the voice, acting as sounding boards.
The project is located in the ruins of the cloister of the ancient monastery of La Certosa and its protagonist is a tree, a nettle tree, which has sprouted spontaneously thanks to the residual waters of the well that once served the structure. This tree species is locally called “stonebreaker” for its prerogative to make its way even through the hard surface of roads and architectures imposed by man on nature. Its essence is therefore that of a resistant being, which survives the most hostile conditions: both those directly created by man with his artifacts, and the climatic ones caused by his actions. A series of performances will pay tribute to this tree that has given rise to some kind of myth due to its resistance skills. We are invited to sit, observe and listen to this symbol of natural resistance, with the attention we usually give to man-made works of art.
The act of cultivating is the first action that man performs on nature modifying it to his own advantage; but it is also the beginning of an artificial process based on a plan whose object is the natural element. The history of this island has seen the presence of a number of monasteries, as testified by the remains of the central cloister of La Certosa, as well as of an ancient hortus conclusus, the protected space that was the heart of the monks’ lives, where vegetables were grown as a source of nourishment. Starting from this, Studio Ossidiana has imagined an enclosure that establishes a limit, a threshold partly to be crossed and partly not to be crossed. As in an ancient seedbed, the arable land is protected within a structure made of Alcantara, which fulfills the primordial function of protection. Thus this contemporary material, used for the first time in the world of Design in its special recycled version, safeguards and protects a nature cultivated by man.
Four installations created through an unconventional dialogue between artists, architects, designers, philosophers and botanists to tell the story of a place and its nature.
Andrea Anastasio with Angela Rui, Bêka&Lemoine with Stefano Mancuso and Studio Formafantasma with Emanuele Coccia.
For the occasion, the Alcantara-MAXXI Project also moved to Venice with the installation by Studio Ossidiana.
We are no longer allowed to be passive regarding the natural conditions surrounding us. The knowledge we can no longer afford to evade today is the environmental context we live in, and BioGrounds is a project that aims to activate this knowledge.
The idea was born from the union between environmental life (Bio) and the assonance with the term playground (Grounds), entrusting contemporary designers to create installations, devices and performances capable of telling the public the story of a place and its nature, involving visitors through actions and interventions.
The BioGrounds are conceived by designers – architects, artists, designers – in dialogue with theorists who are experts in ecological issues – philosophers, botanists, critics – and the optimal place for their realisation is the Island of Certosa in Venice, given its significant biodiversity. The works are designed to transform, live and grow old in the environment, as happens to every element marked by the passage of time. Observing their change is an integral part of active public enjoyment.
programme 21 May
11:30 am
SPACCASASSI. Creazione di un mito contemporaneo di Beka&Lemoine
performance and sound installation realised in collaboration with sound artist Daniel Meir and Teatro stabile del Veneto – Teatro Nazionale
actors: Adriano Iurissevich, Giorgio Spiller
12 pm
SPACCASASSI. Creazione di un mito contemporaneo by Beka&Lemoine
performance “Albero di canto”
choir curated by Anna Maria Civico
performers: Anna M. Civico, Beatrice Di Fonzo, Giulia Gatto, Milena Jankovich, Carla Marazzato, Giovanni Paladini, Sara Paolini, Roberta Ruggiero, Raffaele Silvestre, Patrizia Veclani
credits: C.T.R. Centro Teatrale Ricerca Giudecca VE, Voce Specifica
1 pm
MIKROS KOSMOS life and light
performance by the Teatro Stabile del Veneto – Teatro Nazionale
with the young actors of Tema Cultura Academy
curated by Giovanna Cordova as part of the Mythos Festival
Invasi. Andrea Anastasio with Angela Rui
Populus Alba. Studio Formafantasma with Emanuele Coccia
Spaccasassi. Beka & Lemoine with Stefano Mancuso
Seed bed. Studio Ossidiana | Alcantara-MAXXI project